Brisk to say the least

Rick Kramer wasn’t going to lie when it came to the annual Halloween Parade that his Parks and Recreation Department and the New Horizons-Chamber sponsored on Saturday.

“I was hoping we’d get 40, 50 people,” Kramer said, “and then about 10:20, 10:25, they just kept coming through the doors. Honestly, I was stunned. I mean it was 32 degrees tops out there, and it felt colder. I figured everyone would stay home.”

Instead, more than 150 people took part in the briskest Halloween Parade on record.

Oh, a couple of years ago, rain fell on the parade that is held the Saturday before Halloween, but temperatures that day were at least somewhat mild.

When it came to Saturday, though, it felt more like a Christmas Parade than a Halloween one.

Yet, there they — scores of children accompanied by their parents and grandparents, some of whom got into the holiday spirit by dressing up — were, marching from the Community Center up to Main Street and making the trek past the New Hampton Lions Club judges before heading back to the Community Center.

And they weren’t done yet, as dozens of parade participants took part in the downtown trick-or-treating.